How's the biking in and around Ambergris Caye?

Biking is actually how people used to travel here on Ambergris Caye. They only started cobblestoning and paving the roads about 5 years ago. Bikes are abundant on Ambergris Caye. Most people travel to work on bicycles and most kids travel to school on pedal bikes. It is lovely because with golf carts beside you, biking is not so scary or dangerous. However, we are now starting to have cars and trucks here on Ambergris Caye, so bike riding now tends to be done away from the main...

Biking is actually how people used to travel here on Ambergris Caye. They only started cobblestoning and paving the roads about 5 years ago. Bikes are abundant on Ambergris Caye. Most people travel to work on bicycles and most kids travel to school on pedal bikes. It is lovely because with golf carts beside you, biking is not so scary or dangerous. However, we are now starting to have cars and trucks here on Ambergris Caye, so bike riding now tends to be done away from the main cobblestone streets and tends to be on the sandy streets behind, but still, riding your bike is very doable.

 

We don't have any elevation on the island of Ambergris Caye, so if you want to go mountain biking, you can either take a water taxi or take a plane to the mainland. Water taxis go daily everyday from dawn until dusk. You can take your mountain bike on a plane or on a the water taxi.  On the mainland of Belize there are some mountainous areas there where you can go biking. The Maya mountain range is the spine of the country, so you can go there. Victoria’s Peak is the highest peak in the country and you can definitely go there to use the trails. Many people do that.

 

In the San Ignacio area, which is in the jungle, there are really good mountain biking trails that have been used for many years. From Ambergris Caye, you first take a plane or water taxi off the island to the mainland.  From there, you have to decide whether to take a bus or a car to get a ride going to San Ignacio, which is in the Cayo region of Belize.

 

Once in San Ignacio, I would certainly go to the local bike shop and ask where the trail heads are. It is not advisable to just go to the jungle looking for trail heads because you do not know what you are going to find. There are a few designated paths and there are some paths that lead to waterfalls.

 

To get to San Ignacio from San Pedro, in Ambergris Caye, if you take a water taxi, it would probably take you 5 to 6 hours getting to Belize City. Once you are in Belize City, you can take a bus to San Ignacio, which would take about 3 hours, or a car, which would take about 90 minutes. So, going to San Ignacio for mountain biking is not something you can just do in one day.

Biking is one mode of transportation here in Ambergris Caye. You can just bike wherever you want to go. A lot of people here in Ambergris Caye ride bikes just to release some stress and free their minds.

 

You can easily ride an hour in one direction and another hour going back. You can ride longer than an hour, but I do not see a lot of people doing that because it is easy to get distracted here in Ambergris Caye. Instead of biking for hours, you may stop...

Biking is one mode of transportation here in Ambergris Caye. You can just bike wherever you want to go. A lot of people here in Ambergris Caye ride bikes just to release some stress and free their minds.

 

You can easily ride an hour in one direction and another hour going back. You can ride longer than an hour, but I do not see a lot of people doing that because it is easy to get distracted here in Ambergris Caye. Instead of biking for hours, you may stop at the beach and just look at the view or get in the water and by the time you realize it, you don’t want to continue riding farther and decide to head back. It’s that beautiful here in Ambergris Caye.

 

(Riding bikes around Ambergris Caye, Belize, pictured.)

I absolutely love biking in Ambergris Caye. Biking is my favorite mode of transportation because I am not a big fan of driving. The fact that everything is pretty close makes Ambergris Caye an excellent place to bike. 

 

You don’t have to worry here about a Hummer or any bigger vehicle pushing you off the road because, for the most part, there are only golf carts on the island. There are a...

I absolutely love biking in Ambergris Caye. Biking is my favorite mode of transportation because I am not a big fan of driving. The fact that everything is pretty close makes Ambergris Caye an excellent place to bike. 

 

You don’t have to worry here about a Hummer or any bigger vehicle pushing you off the road because, for the most part, there are only golf carts on the island. There are a couple of taxis but you don’t have to be afraid of getting hit by a speeding car, which makes it so much easier to be biking. 

 

In the main part of town of San Pedro, there is a lot of one way streets so you don’t have to worry about incoming traffic, which makes it very simple and very nice. 

 

A lot of people ride their bicycles here in Ambergris Caye. There are lots of cyclists and golf carts. You can go biking on the beach, too, because the sand is packed down, which makes it perfect for bike riding. 

 

If you want to bike for a long distance, you ride up to 5 miles or more. I did that recently when I rode about 5 miles north of San Pedro. I could have kept going farther and decided to head back home, but I think you can pretty much ride all the way to the end of the island. 

 

There is a paved road that goes pretty far up north. I would say you could go even up to 20 miles per day because you could also go south, too, which is a fun place to bike ride.

 

Since there is no appreciable rise in elevation on Ambergris Caye there is no mountain biking available.  It’s nice when you can just go slow enough and take in all the sights and see the nature and the ocean. It’s just a beautiful bike ride. 

 

(Pictured: Ambergris Caye beach at sunset; one of the sites you can see riding your bike on the island.)